Favorite Schools

Favorite Teams

Greater New Orleans

Change Region

comments

Woman who was at work when man shot up Covington law firm sues sheriff, coroner

tam shooting.jpg

The woman who was working at a Covington law firm last year when a Slidell man stormed inside and fired several rounds before killing himself is suing the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office, Coroner’s Office and several others, claiming she was “seriously and permanently injured” in the incident.
(Heather Nolan, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)

A woman who was working at a Covington law firm last year when a Slidell man stormed inside and fired up to 60 gunshots before killing himself is suing the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office, Coroner's Office and several others, claiming she was "seriously and permanently injured" in the incident. Robin Dominique, who worked at the Upton Law Firm on North Columbia Street, and her husband, Eldon Dominique Jr., are seeking damages including past and future lost wages and medical expenses.

Roderick Rist, 47, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound during the attack on July 30, 2013. Authorities said he pulled into the parking lot of lawyer Tim Upton's downtown Covington office, and when he couldn't get inside, started firing his gun. He shattered the glass door with gunshots, entered the office and continued shooting.

Covington police said at the time that Rist fired as many as 60 times. He was carrying two .22-caliber pistols and two 9mm pistols, police said.

Upton told NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune last year that his office manager was the only person inside when the shooting occurred. She "hit the floor" and was not physically injured, he said at the time.

Her husband "sustained a loss of consortium, service and society," according to the lawsuit.

The Dominiques claim the parish's and the sheriff's office's negligence contributed to Rist's actions. The lawsuit says those agencies did not "properly investigate direct threats of violence by an individual known to be dangerous and mentally unstable," and that they did not "properly and thoroughly confiscate firearms from the home of a mentally-unstable individual."

The day before the incident, the sheriff's office said deputies visited Rist's Slidell-area home after a neighbor reported being concerned that Rist had made several "disconcerting statements" and appeared to be "on edge."

Rist told deputies that he was fine and they left, writing in their report that Rist was "in a good state of mind" and that he seemed to be "intelligent," the sheriff's office said at the time.

Two weeks before that visit, Rist's mother filed a criminal complaint with the sheriff's office, accusing her son of pushing her vehicle into the porch of her home using his vehicle.

Rist's mother is named as a defendant in the Dominique's lawsuit. They claim Emily Buell Rist failed to "report direct threats of violence to appropriate authorities" and failed to "take reasonable steps to prevent an individual known to be mentally unstable from obtaining access to firearms," among other claims.

The Dominiques also accuse the St. Tammany Parish Coroner's Office of failing to issue a protective order and failing to "communicate and/or publish information of dangerous criminal behavior and direct threats of violence to the appropriate parties and legal authorities."

The defendants have not yet responded to the lawsuit, court records show.